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Vandals painted swastikas on the outside walls of Union Station in Washington, DC on Friday, prompting condemnation from Jewish groups and lawmakers and prompting an investigation by local law enforcement.
The swastikas were found painted all around the outside of the station. A message saying “F**k you Obama” was also scratched onto one of the walls.
The Amtrak rail service said an investigation is ongoing.
The Jewish Federations of North America said: “The sight of Nazi swastikas in our nation’s capital the day after Holocaust Remembrance Day is deeply harrowing.”
“This is not okay. Your Jewish friends are exhausted and need you as a partner in inciting antisemitism,” said Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council for Jewish Women.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington wrote, “This anti-Semitic and hateful symbol has no place in our society, and to find it in our city during International Holocaust Remembrance Day week is particularly offensive.”
Disgusting. Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. My staff just sent me this video of Union Station defaced with swastikas. Antisemitism is real and we cannot tolerate it. I contact the local authorities. pic.twitter.com/cvDQ9yNRH4
— Senator Bob Menendez (@SenatorMenendez) January 28, 2022
US Senator Bob Menendez called the vandalism “morbid”.
US President Joe Biden denounced anti-Semitism in a statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday.
“It is up to each of us to speak out against the resurgence of anti-Semitism and to ensure that bigotry and hatred do not find safe havens at home and around the world,” Biden said.
According to the FBI, Jews are the target of hate crimes more than any other religious group in the United States.
A recent survey conducted by the Ruderman Family Foundation found that 94% of American Jews feel antisemitism exists in the US, with 42% saying they have experienced antisemitism in the past five years either directly or through family or friends to have.
The anti-Semitic graffiti in Washington on Friday followed a series of alleged anti-Semitic attacks in New York last week.
On Saturday was an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man beaten on a Brooklyn street and on Tuesday a man Threatened Jews with a machete in the New York borough.
On Wednesday, a Jewish woman was approached on a subway in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.
“You little Jewish girl, you better get off this train before I hurt you,” the attacker told her.
